Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-02-17

, 1t was a five he had, and the ''old
woman sat in the wagon on the oppo-
site side of the street.
"Why does she suspect it to be had?"
I asked. as / surveyed the bill.
"Well, it was give to me four or fiye
days ago by chap who rode out home
with us, had supper, and then cut
across to the railroad station. L
seventy-fve cents at the most, and his
liberality seems queer"
was dead certain from his first words
that had got track of my man. We
| went into the bank to satisfy him that
the bill was all right, and then crossed
to the wagon. / want to tell you that
country people are head and shoulders
above the average city residents in the
matter of observation and in remem-
5ering what they see.
''Wel, one reason why I suspected
this man." said the wife, twas because
his hair was dreadfully haggled and
saw. His hair was all in streaks of
black and red, and he'd got the dye on
his ears and neck"
The fellow had tried to play smart in
leaving the city by one of the highways,
but accident had revealed his trail. He
had taken the train at station about
| fifteen miles away, and he had four
days the start of me. The first move
| was to run out to the country station at
which he had taken the train. l there
found that he had made many inquiries
about the northern and western part of
the State, and had finally purchased a
ticket for Fond du Lac. The description
of him was good, and l was about to
buy ticket for the same place and take
train due in half an hour, when in
came boy who had been there on the
evening when Lane bought his ticket.
He was lad who helped around the
station, and it was plain that he had a
good deal of native wit.
Eyes, that chap bought ticket for
Fond du Lac, but 1 don't think he went
| there" replied the lad when L began to
question him.
''What makes you think he did not?"
Because" he answered, as he hand
ed down a folder from the rack, she
was studying this route, which goes to
PORTAGE City. l think he meant to take
this folder along, but dropped it. See
how he has marked it with pencil"
So he had. He could run up to Water
town and go through by way of Beaver
Dam. He had marked the time of az
rival at the junction and of the arrival
ut Portage, and it could not be that he
would take all that trouble to throw
any one off his trail. There was no one
after him, and he could not argue that
the boy would hold the marked folder
against him. 1 therefore changed my
route to Portage City, and at the juno
ton 1 got track of my man. He had no
ticket, but had paid his fare in cash. 1t
was night and the state of his hair had
not been noticed, but the conductor
described Lanes general appearance
and said that he had changed Il twenty
dollar bill for him. He might go no
further than Beaver Dam, and got off
there and looked around for few
hours. No trace of him had been had,
and Twas at the depot to take the train,
when conversation between two young
men became interesting.
''You ought to have told some body"
protested one.
Eyes, and been laughed at, replied
the other.
"And he had ten thousand dollarsP"
Eyes, double that"
"And he was counting it on the
bed?"
Yes"
MAY be, but he was off early in the
morning. Well, SO long, Tom-here's
the train"
The one who had seen some one count
ing money was going west by my
train, and 1 schemed to get seat with
him and draw him out. He was a
porter at one of the hotels in Portage,
and he had seen guest answering
Lanes description counting such a lot
of money that it covered half the bed.
The porter had made his observations
through the keyhole of the door, and,
being ashamed of himself, had hesitated
to go to the landlord. The man had
arrived without baggage, but had there
purchased valise, and his nervous
manner and the sight of so much money
in his possession had led the porter to
finally conclude that there was a mys-
terry there somewhere, although he had
not spoken of it to any around the house.
The man had purchased suit of coarse
clothes, with hat and shoes to match,
and in leaving had taken the highway
leading toward Oshkosh. He had pur-
chased another bottle of hair dye in
Portage, but had apparently given his
red hair up as bad job. He not only
left the bottle in his room, but by
means of soap and water washed off
what dye he had put on at Milwaukee,
Lane had given the landlord to I'M
derstand that he was Woodworking